It has been almost exactly two years since I last posted on here… To be honest, I had completely forgotten about this account until I received an email completely out of the blue from someone who had liked one of my posts from way back when!

I plan on becoming more active again. Looking forward to getting back into it!

I love arts and crafts, however I can’t draw to save myself so I had to find something else to satisfy my urge to do something arty. So after spending a very long time on Youtube, I found some great ideas!

Something that really caught my eye was crayon melting. So I decided to give it a go! I took photos along the way in case anyone fancies trying it too!

First of all, I taped lots of paper together to protect my floor and wall as the hot wax goes everywhere.

Then I grabbed my crayons!

I soaked them in warm water to make taking the labels off a little easier.

Next, I broke up the crayons into smaller pieces.

Then I grabbed my canvas…

and my hairdryer!

Time to get started!

I kept the hair dryer on medium heat and power but it still got pretty hot so I used a ruler to hold the crayons, otherwise they just blow off the canvas. They do stick on their own after a while.

Starting with the second colour!

This project can get messy!

Really messy.. It takes some time, so be patient and keep at it! Once the wax dries, if you’re not happy with it you can just heat it up again and keep going!

This is the final result. I’m not 100% happy with it. I wish I’d used different colours, but not bad for a first attempt! 😀

With black acrylic paint, I painted some important words on top the crayon melt once it had dried.

I hope you like my Crayon melt tutorial! If you try it I’d love to see a photo!

Today, a colleague and friend of mine, told me her heart-breaking story. We were almost at the end of our first class of the afternoon when her phone rang. A common occurrence as parents of our students often call to ask how their kids are doing in class or if they have any homework. However, this time when she picked up her phone she froze and her eyes stayed glued to the screen. I called her name a couple of times as the kids belted out “I’m a little teapot” in the background. She didn’t answer and let the phone continue to ring.

I ended the class and the kids went back to their classrooms. The next class wasn’t due to start for another ten minutes but, as usual, the kids of the next class were already standing outside. I ushered the kids inside and took my friend outside. Her eyes were red and brimming with tears. I asked her what was wrong and she confessed her story to me.

She had married the man she loved and later they had a beautiful baby girl. But everything was not all it seemed, her husband was very abusive towards her, physically, verbally, emotionally and financially. One day, around a year ago, she found the strength to leave her husband and even though she gained her freedom, she lost something else which, to her, was equally important. Her now four year old daughter. In a place where money and connections are power, her now ex-husband, used his money and influence to take her daughter away from her. She has been trying to get her daughter back ever since.

Because his work is far away, her daughter lives with her grandmother through the week and with her father at the weekends. Both of them told my friend that she has no right so see her own child, just because she left her husband. What kind of thinking is that? My friend has explained her reasons for leaving, but either her ex mother-in-law doesn’t believe what her son done to my friend, or she is pretending it didn’t happen. Either way, I believe she has no right to keep a child away from her mother. I’ve known my friend for over a year now, she is one of the kindest, friendliest and most honest people I have ever met. All of her students love her. All of the student’s parents love her. All of the staff who work with her love her.

But behind her smiling face lies a burning pain in her heart knowing that she cannot see her own child. During the week, she went to her daughter’s kindergarten and saw her there for only a few minutes. When she went to leave, her four year old daughter grabbed her by the hand and said, “Mummy, don’t go. Please stay with me. I promise I won’t tell Granny or Daddy.” Even this innocent four year old child knows what her father would do to her mother if he saw them together. Unfortunately, the phone call my friend received today was from her ex-husband, she can only assume that he found out about her seeing her daughter. I cannot forget the look on her face, she told me that if she answered his call, he would curse and verbally abuse her through the phone, and threaten to physically harm her.

I’ve never had someone confess such a story to me before, until today a story like this would only be one I would hear about on the news, not straight from the mouth of a dear friend. I felt helpless as there was nothing I could do except let her cry. Even words of comfort wouldn’t come out. What could I say? “Everything is going to be OK?” Who am I to make such a promise? However, I am sure that my feeling of helplessness is nothing compared to the despair of the mother who will now be at home, without her precious daughter by her side.

1. Boil pasta/spaghetti until fully cooked. Do NOT drain the water away yet! It will make it go sticky. Leave it in the water until you are ready to add the sauce.2. Chop up the onion, garlic, peppers and tomatoes.3. Fry your garlic and onions in olive oil. Add the peppers and fry for a few minutes.4. Add the tomatoes. They will slowly start to water down. If you don’t feel like there is enough sauce you can add water. I sometimes add just a little chicken stock for extra flavour.5. Cook for about 15 mins then drain your pasta/spaghetti and add to the sauce.6. Mix well then enjoy!!

I made these bad boys a couple of days ago and they are great! The sugar content was meant to be way higher so I halved it and they tasted so good! I wanna share the recipe with you all! 🙂

Ingredients

220g butter, softened

100g light brown soft sugar

50g caster sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

200g plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

250g rolled oats

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C / Gas mark 4.2. Cream together the butter, brown sugar, caster sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth. 3. Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt together with the sugar mixture.4. Stir in the oats.5. Roll the mixture into balls then flatten them and place on a greased baking tray.6. Bake for about 10 mins then remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack/7. Enjoy! 😀

What’s Blogilates I hear you ask? To put it simply, it’s amazing! An amazing woman called Cassey Ho, a fitness instructor, has made it her mission to help as many people as possible. She uploads new videos every week on her Blogilates youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/blogilates) filled with fun exercises which will leave you aching the next day! She also has a weekly section called Cheap Clean Eats where she provides amazing and healthy recipes!

She never tells you to focus on losing weight, she stresses making yourself feel confident and proud. She also encourages you to prove to yourself that you can be more than you ever thought you could be.

She makes up monthly calendars to challenge you to get yourself in shape and there’s also a beginner calendar for the new POPsters. 🙂 They can all be found on her website, http://www.blogilates.com/

And as if that wasn’t enough, she’s just launched http://my.blogilates.com/ a social network site for all her POPsters to contact with each other and to gain motivation and support from each other.

And there’s still more! She’s also the founder of her own line of cute workout gear! Check it out at http://www.ogorgeous.com/pages/blogilates

I’d highly recommend everyone checking out her videos. She is an amazing person!!

I was going through my movie collection with no idea what to watch and came across this old gem. I haven’t watched this movie in years! A dragon, voiced by Sean Connery, gives half his heart to save a young prince’s life, the prince is played by the actor who played Professor Lupin in Harry Potter. Unfortunately, this young prince is just as evil as his father before him and poisons the heart. The fate of the dragon and this young prince becomes inter-twinned. Enter a dragon slayer, played by Dennis Quaid, who used to be the prince’s teacher and you’ve got an amazing movie!

This movie came out when I was around 9 years old and was always a favourite for me and my mum on our girly pajama days. I’d highly recommend this movie!